Lydana followed the Romulan back out of the medbay as they moved towards the guard station, and Khimmek immediately set to work gaining access to the computer system.

"Once I am done here, I can no longer help you," he told Lydana, his fingers dancing over the console. "I have to maintain my cover, otherwise-"

"I get it Khimmek," Lydana answered aburptly, "just get me into the system and go."

There was a brief moment of silence as Khimmek worked, while Lydana stood beside him with her rifle raised as she watched the doors. Finally the Romulan infiltrator straightened up, gesturing towards the console.

"You're in, although what you hope to achieve-"

"Is for me to worry about," she interrupted, shouldering him out of the way. "Get going then, Khimmek. And I'd advise you to look for a way off this ship, quickly."

Without another word, Khimmek hurried through a door off to Lydana's right, and as soon as the door closed again Lydana locked all the entrances to the area in which she stood and went to work.

She pulled out her tricorder and opened it, setting it beside the terminal as she worked the console. She would occasionally type a few small commands into the pocket device, and eventually she grinned wickedly.

Before arriving on the Khnial, she had set up a small computer virus to break down certain essential commands for the ship's systems. But more than that, she grinned because she had found a hidden data cache, one which seemed to be connected to the 'General Hakeev' Tovan had mentioned, and she tapped her wrist communicator.

"Kassai to Tovan."

"Tovan here, what's happening?"

"Standby to receive a data dump, I've found a few files you might be interested in."

"Understood, but there's a problem – we've detected Federation warp signatures inbound, they'll be here in a few minutes."

Lydana swore. She thought she'd have more time.

"Understood Tovan. I'll send this data then I'll be about ready to leave. Kassai out."

She began sending the data she'd uncovered, then allowed herself a harsh chuckle as she typed two final commands into the computer.

"Indoctrinate this, you bastards," she muttered, stabbing her finger onto the icon that uploaded her instructions to the computer.


Although internally nothing seemed to change, externally the Khnial had a problem. A fresh command had told the computer to drop the cloak and shields, and the computer complied cheerfully. The immense vessel shimmered back into existence, its shields forgotten, and the Romulan vessels present all turned their attention towards it.


As the fire against the ship tripled in intensity, Lydana found herself struggling to remain upright as the vessel heaved under the assault. She could hear the detonations ringing through the attached corridors, and the pounding of desperate fists against the doors that sealed the area. Despite her medical training, and the oath she had taken as part of it, she was all too glad to see the terrorists who had tortured her girlfriend burn.

A tone from the console told her the information had finished uploading, and Lydana snatched her tricorder back up and put a plasma shot into the computer console, before hitting her wrist communicator again.

"Tovan, beam me out!"

She could see the doors starting to be forced open now, and she raised her rifle and fired into the small gap. She'd only squeezed off a short burst, disintegrating a Romulan's face as he tried to force the door open further, when finally the dark corridors of the Khnial faded out of view, to be replaced by the lighter greens of the Leucosia's walls.

"Transporter room to the bridge, we have her," the female Romulan informed Tovan, before offering Lydana a smile. "Welcome back, sir. Your presence is requested on the bridge."

"Thank you, I better not keep them waiting then," Lydana replied, hurrying out of the transporter room towards the turbolift. She was glad that one part of the plan had succeeded – now she needed to help her friends escape the firefight between the two Romulan factions.


Lydana stumbled into the bridge, as the ship took several hits from the Tal Shiar forces gathered with the Khnial, and Tovan looked back at her.

"We're taking some heavy fire here, Lydana," he called out, "if you have any Starfleet tricks up your sleeve, I'd appreciate them!"

Lydana's eyes flickered across the viewscreen, taking in the locations of the enemy vessels, then crossed over to the science officer's console.

"Do you know how to make a gravity well?" she asked hurriedly, and the young officer shook his head.

"Uh...n-no ma'am..."

"Here, let me show you."

She began talking the young man through the adjustments he needed to make, pointing out the display readings to note and the changes in the deflector dish to pay attention to. As she was teaching the young man, Tovan looked at her again and frowned.

"Lydana, could you explain what you're doing, please? We need some information here!"

"We're readying an inverse graviton pulse," she informed him, turning to meet his gaze. "If we target the centre of the enemy formation with an inverse graviton pulse from the main deflector array, it creates a 'well' of high gravity, drawing in most ships and holding larger ones. With them held in place-"

"We can hit them with a full spread from the cannons!" Tovan finished, his expression brightening. He turned to the tactical station, his eyes blazing with vengeful fire. "T'Shera, prepare a spread volley from the cannons and a full spread of torpedoes! Fire on Lydana's mark!"

Lydana kept an eye on the science officer's display, then muttered something under her breath.

"Helm, bring us around for another pass! We need a better firing angle!"

There was a brief moment as the helm officer looked at Tovan for confirmation, which he gave quickly, and the view on the screen wheeled as the ship pulled around for a fresh attack run. Lydana kept an eye on the science console, waiting for the right moment to activate the pulse, and finally stabbed her finger towards the science officer.

"Now!"


A dark, purple-pink beam lanced out from the warbird's deflector, detonating at a point in the middle of the Tal Shiar formation. A dark, swirling mass of bruised energy erupted at the target point, the sudden shift in gravitational forces dragging smaller ships back in towards it. The larger ships, like the Khnial and a handful of the Mogai-class warbirds, were held in place, and the Leucosia carried on its turn until its weapons were finally brought to bear.

Lydana gave the second order, and a wide-spread volley of disruptor cannon fire tore into all of the stricken Tal Shiar vessels. This was shortly followed by a full spread of disruptor torpedoes, the burning emerald projectiles punching through shields and tearing vast holes in the opposing ships, several of which detonated under the onslaught. The rest of the Republic fleet joined in, pounding the Tal Shiar flotilla with cannon fire and torpedoes, and it was at this point that the Starfleet vessels tore into existence.


"Lydana!"

"I see them!"

The Bajoran swore as she spotted the four large Starfleet ships, feeling a pang of sadness as she saw the ships she had grown up watching engage the Tal Shiar.

"Tovan, break off and prepare to cloak," she told him, and he gave the necessary orders to his own crew. Lydana moved to a separate console, inputting a few commands and turning back to Tovan.

"I need you to open the shuttle bay."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it!"

Tovan complied, and as he did the shuttle that Lydana had stolen before began to power up, as it received her commands. As soon as it had cleared the shuttle bay, the doors closed once again and Lydana at last gave the order to cloak.

"Get us out of here, Tovan. Please."

"Helm, set course for Mol'Rihan, warp four, and engage when set."

"Aye sir."

Lydana heaved a sigh, the events of the last hour catching up with her, and leaned over her auxiliary console as she fought to stop her limbs trembling. So much had happened, and so quickly, that she'd barely had time to process it. With Loraya safe and the Leucosia cloaked and heading out of the system, she finally had time to do just that, and it was difficult for her to come to terms with.

Regardless of her thoughts on the Tal Shiar, she had killed several of them on her way to save Loraya. How many of those had served the Tal Shiar simply because they wanted what was best for their people? How many of them died unnecessarily? Maybe if she had stopped to try a more diplomatic, Federation approach...

No. She was Bajoran, and her people knew all too well that groups like the Tal Shiar responded only to force.

And yet, that didn't ease her conscience a great deal.

"Care to explain what that was all about?" Tovan asked firmly, striding over to her as soon as the ship was out of danger. Lydana looked at him, and offered a weak smile in response.

"Starfleet came because they wanted me," she explained, "so that's what I gave them. I set the shuttle to head towards the nearest Starfleet signature, and before I left I'd made sure to put my uniform in there...with my commbadge."

Tovan gave her a quizzical look, and she grinned.

"They already expected me to go them, because I said I was giving myself up, so they wouldn't have looked at the shuttle too closely – they would see my comm signal and take it at face value."

Tovan thought about this for a moment, before bursting into laughter.

"So all they got," he managed eventually, "was a uniform and the shuttle you stole?" He shook his head and chuckled. "Nice work."

"Well, I did tell them I'd give it back," she joked, and Tovan patted her shoulder gently.

As he was about to turn away, a frantic voice sounded from his wrist communicator.

"Medbay to Tovan!"

"Tovan here, what's wrong?"

There was a sound of weapons fire from the other end of the channel, accompanied by incoherent screaming.

"It's the Centurion!" The voice shouted. "She's out of sedation, but it seems the torture left a lasting effect. She still thinks she's on a Tal Shiar ship and that this is a trick!"

Lydana looked at Tovan, her eyes wide with fear and determination.

"I'm going down there," she said bluntly, and he nodded after the barest hesitation.

"I'm sending Lydana down, maybe she can help," Tovan informed the medical officer, as Lydana ran for the turbolift.


Lydana rushed through the medbay doors, stopping short as disruptor beam flashed across her vision and impacting against the wall.

"Get away from me, Tal Shiar scum!" was all Lydana heard from her right, as another salvo of shots erupted from just behind a medical bed that had been turned sideways.

"Loraya?" the Bajoran ventured, moving slowly towards the area where her lover was apparently hiding, and she was rewarded with Loraya tentatively standing up. She kept one hand on the medical bed, her frown spoke of distrust, but at least she wasn't shooting.

"L-Lydana?" The small, broken voice that came from the woman was like a blade in Lydana's heart – to see her girlfriend, a woman who was strong-willed, passionate and courageous, reduced to a broken shadow of her former self, was almost more than she could take.

"It's me, my love," Lydana said quietly. "I had a bit of an incident with Starfleet, but I had to come and find you."

Loraya's eyes were bloodshot and sore, her hair dishevelled, and she seemed to have trouble standing. She looked at Lydana for a few minutes, her eyes desperate and haunted, and eventually her frown deepened and her lips curled in a snarl of rage.

"More Tal Shiar trickery!" she shouted, and began firing again, forcing Lydana to duck.

"Loraya, it's me!" she shouted over the sound of disruptor blasts, and Loraya paused.

"Prove it!"

Lydana straightened up again, seeing that Loraya was having even greater difficulty remaining upright now, fighting the urge to cry when the woman she cared for so much needed her. She walked steadily towards Loraya as she began to speak, defying the disruptor pistol aimed at her head.

"I first met you in the Acamar system," Lydana said slowly, "when I was searching for the missing DaVinci. I found it, but I also found the Tal Shiar, who invaded my ship. You turned up with...what was it you said you had? A pair of Ha'apax warbirds, you said. You saved my life, most of my crew and what was left of my ship. You gave me advice on being a captain, and you said you'd always be there for me."

"Not enough!" Loraya snapped. "Anyone could find that out!"

Lydana stepped closer still, her hands up in a placating gesture.

"You...you first confessed to having feelings for me when I invited you and your officers to my ship, after we defeated the Tholians. You called me 'an astounding young woman', and no doubt I blushed in response. I usually do, don't I?"

By this point, Lydana was stood practically at Loraya's side, and the Romulan's resolve was breaking. Her pistol hand was shaking, tears trailing down her cheek, and her expression was softening.

"I promise you, my love, it's me," Lydana whispered. "You're safe now, and I'm here with you."

There was a tense moment as Loraya's grip tightened on the weapon, but at last it loosened again and the pistol dropped to the deck.

"Oh...Lyddie," Loraya breathed, before collapsing into Lydana's arms and sobbing into her shoulder.

Lydana eased the Romulan back onto the medical bed, beckoning the staff out of their hiding place, one hand stroking Loraya's hair soothingly.

"I'll tend to the Centurion," she told the chief medical officer, "just leave me a tray of instruments. You see to your staff, make sure no-one else was hurt."

The medical officer nodded in compliance, marching off to get the instruments she needed, and Lydana tapped her wrist communicator.

"Lydana to Tovan."

"Tovan here, what-"

"She's fine," Lydana interrupted. "I'm going to stay with her a while. I think it'll be safer for your crew if I do anyway, because I'm not Romulan."

"Understood," Tovan answered, his tone sincere. "I'll come and see you both when I can. Tovan out."

Once the tray was brought over to her, Lydana set about mending Loraya's injuries from the torture, talking to her girlfriend constantly to reassure her of what was happening, and fighting her own tears at the same time.